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<p><span style="color: rgb(139, 0, 0); font-family: NotoSansCJKsc; font-size: 22px;">不是⋯⋯而是⋯⋯</span>&#160;(<span class="pinyin">bù shì... ér shì</span>) means "<b>not A, but rather B.</b>" This is a useful phrase to use in arguments to overturn a point of view and state the opposite.</p>

  <h2 id="structure">Structure</h2>

  <div class="jiegou"><div class="deux"><span class="hanzist">不是</span>&#160;+ A +&#160;<span class="hanzist">而是</span>&#160;+ B</div>
  </div>

  <p>A above is the undesirable option, and B is the desirable option. The same could be expressed as follows:</p>

  <div class="jiegou"><div class="deux"><span class="hanzist">是</span>&#160;+ B +&#160;<span class="hanzist">而不是</span>&#160;+ A</div>
  </div>

  <h2 id="examples">Examples</h2>

  <p>For example:</p>

  <div class="exemple">
    <ul>
      <li><span class="hanzi">我 不 是 不 想 帮忙 而 是 没有 能力 帮忙。</span>&#160;<span class="trans">It's not that I don't want to help, it's that I can't help.</span></li>

      <li><span class="hanzi">我 认为 有的人 做 慈善 活动 的 目的 不 是 为了 帮助 穷人 而 是 为了 提高 他们 的 名誉。</span>&#160;<span class="trans">I think that some people do charitable things, not only to help poor people, but also to improve their reputation.</span></li>
    </ul>
  </div>

  <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>

  <ul>
    <li><a href="Expressing_&quot;either_..._or_...&quot;_with_&quot;yaome&quot;" title="wikilink">Expressing "either ... or ..." with "yaome"</a></li>

    <li><a href="Expressing_the_only_two_possibilities" title="wikilink">Expressing the only two possibilities</a></li>

    <li><a href="The_pattern_&quot;it's_not%E2%80%A6,_it's%E2%80%A6&quot;" title="wikilink">The pattern "it's not…, it's…"</a></li>
  </ul>

  <h2 id="sources-and-further-reading">Sources and further reading</h2>

  <h3 id="books">Books</h3>

  <ul>
    <li>Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 1 (pp. 306-7) </li>

    <li>New Practical Chinese Reader 4 (<span class="hanzi">新实用汉语课本4</span>) (pp. 20) </li>

    <li>40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (<span class="hanzi">基础汉语40课下册</span>） (p. 516)</li>
  </ul>

  <h3 id="websites">Websites</h3>

  <ul>
    <li>Yale Chinese Usage Dictionary: <a href="http://comet.cls.yale.edu/chineseusagedictionary/0235.html">Usage of 而</a></li>
  </ul>
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